Movies which suffered ex-CBFC chief Pankaj Nihalani axe

12 August 2017

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After being replaced by the government as the Censor Board chief, Pahlaj Nihalani retaliated by saying that censorship was necessary and soon the filmmakers will resort to showing pornography in normal movies. He will be succeeded by lyricist Prasoon Joshi. For one, he has drawn flak for his prudish views and making his political leaning clear by calling PM Modi his "action hero". Pahlaj Nihalani alleged that since the time he became CBFC chief in 2015 "there have been elements working against me, some of them from within the CBFC".

The Censor Board, with its outlandish decisions about blocking films, has invited the ire of the film industry, consistently.

Senthil Kumar, chief creative officer, JWT, believes it's a unusual hat for Joshi to wear, but adds, "I'm sure the industry will benefit since he's been a great judge of work across advertising festivals".

Over the last few months, Nihalani was addressed as "sanskari" chief, especially after removing a kissing scene from the Hollywood film Spectre as it was "too excessive". He had demanded over 80 cuts in the movie, following which many people from the film fraternity stood against the board. "Mr Joshi will be much easier to approach".

Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who led a panel that has made recommendations for a revamp of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, told IANS: "Prasoon Joshi is an excellent choice".

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Joshi is widely respected for his contribution to popular culture and in framing public consciousness in India through his work and content creation across advertising, poetry, songwriting and cinema. He's a very fair, unbiased man, with a good sense of the audience.